Category: ‘Yes We Can’ — The Billionaire’s Retort

Millions of people have viewed will.i.am’s populist tribute to Barack Obama, the YouTube hit “Yes We Can.”
Now the millionaires (and billionaires) of the world have issued their counter-response. The group “Billionaires for Bush” (yes, they’re still around!) have produced this spoof of “Yes We Can,” appropriately titled “No You Can’t.”
In the video, several stereotypical […]

With so much attention paid to the Forbes list, it’s refreshing to see BusinessWeek, Slate and the Chronicle of Philanthropy put out their annual rankings of America’s biggest charitable donors.
Slate yesterday came out with its list of America’s 60 top charitable donors. The results might surprise you: Atop the list is Leona Helmsley, better […]

Remember the 1980s when the Japanese seemed to be buying up all the real estate in New York and California? Or the 1970s when the Saudis seemed to be buying up all the Rolls Royces and gold faucets in the world?
These days, it seems like the Russians are emerging as the new kings of conspicuous […]

The bad news in financial markets may be good news for one group of consumers: private-jet buyers.
Demand for private jets has been so out of control in the past few years that waiting lists for planes have stretched out to three or four years. If you want to purchase a new, $45 million Gulfstream G550 […]

One of the strange side-effects of the wealth boom is the emergence of what I call “wealth denial.”
Today, no one seems to want to fess up to their true economic standing. The middle class pretend to be rich (mass luxury), and the rich pretend to be middle class (billionaire populism). You can chalk it up […]

A friend of mine went to the Naples wine auction last week. Yet before the bidding started, he had the sudden urge to leave.
“It just felt wrong,” he said. “With the economy the way it is, and lots of people hurting, I wasn’t comfortable with people spending $5,000 for a bottle of wine and then […]

Microsoft has created a legendary number of millionaires and billionaires. Today, they potentially improved the fortunes of two more: Jerry Yang and David Filo.

Jerry Yang (Yahoo)

If Microsoft’s $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo results in a deal, Messrs. Filo and Yang — Yahoo’s co-founders and biggest inside shareholders — will see their wealth jump by more […]

There’s been a lot of handwringing in the media lately about the giant endowments at elite schools and universities. Harvard now has a $28 billion pile, while Yale must make ends meet with $18 billion.
A recent New York Times article by Geraldine Fabrikant looked at how prep schools are now cashing in on the […]

Like Willie Sutton, IRS auditors are going to “where the money is” — rich taxpayers.
According to Tom Herman’s column on tax audits in today’s Journal, the IRS is targeting more wealthy taxpayers this year in order to help close its revenue gap. Taxpayers with incomes of more than $1 million are the biggest prizes […]

Leona Helmsley — a.k.a. “The Queen of Mean” — is turning over some of her prized possessions to the public. Posthumously, of course. And at a price.
Christie’s announced that it will be auctioning about 500 lots from the real-estate billionairess’s Greenwich and Sarasota homes. (Pictured are interior shots of her Greenwich mansion, courtesy […]